Hormuz risk is now a shipping-cost problem

Brent recovered above $106 after reports of US strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island reversed Monday’s 7.6% fall. The Strait of Hormuz carried about 20 million barrels of oil a day before the war, and BGN is buying more vessels, including very large crude carriers, to secure cargo movements as routes and charter availability become less reliable. That helps explain why a diplomatic headline can knock billions off oil prices while traders still spend on physical transport capacity. If talks reopen the strait, those ships become an expensive hedge; if traffic stays constrained, owning tonnage beats scrambling for it.